


the king and his captain

by darkknight



Series: as long as the seasons change, i will love you. [4]
Category: The King: Eternal Monarch
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Poetry, it all ends happily tho no worries, jo yeong gets hurt bc of lee gon's crazy uncle, the king isn't handling it too well, they're just two soft dumb men in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23965051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkknight/pseuds/darkknight
Summary: anger and heartbreak.but under all of it, love.the beautiful pain of love was still there, wasn’t it.he hated it.
Relationships: Lee Gon/Jo Yeong
Series: as long as the seasons change, i will love you. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726678
Comments: 16
Kudos: 124





	the king and his captain

**Author's Note:**

> so this is what i imagine will happen once the drama reaches its peak, like i just know our man jo yeong will get hurt but even tho he gets hurt here he is fine in the end, just a little emotional piece about how lee gon is dealing with it.

there were few moments where the king had ever been truly upset with his captain. most of those times it was when he got injured during training or when he sacrificed sleep because of some new security measures. but most of the time it was the other way around, the king doing something stupid or reckless which had his captain worrying endlessly.

but this time, one of the rare times, the roles had been reversed.

the king stood by the hospital bed looking down on jo yeong, the love of his life, connected to a bunch of tubs and multiple body parts being covered in gauze. the stupid man had put himself in harms way because of _him_. he _hated_ it. hated how willingly he put himself in the line of fire for someone like him. he knew in the back of his head that it was the captain’s job to protect the king, to make sure he was safe above all. but what about the king’s job? didn’t the king have a responsibility to make sure his captain was safe? why was it so easy to make the decision to be at the brink of death because you loved someone? and why wasn’t it him that laid there? why did it have to be _yeong-ah_?

his deranged uncle had come back from the parallel world where he’s been hiding and plotting for the past 25 years and caused mayhem. as the king he should be taking care of the damage, reassuring his people that the threat was dealt with, that everything was fine. but it _wasn’t_ fine, was it. some of his guards had lost their lives fighting the men his uncle had brought with him, part of the palace had burned down during the fighting, his uncle set on rebuilding the kingdom, and that meant a fresh start, a better land rising from the ashes of the old.

but mostly, it wasn’t fine, because the man that was suppose to be at his side, always and forever, was laying in a hospital bed in a coma with no one knowing when he’ll wake up, if he ever would.

the only one from keeping him from losing the last bit of sanity he had left was laying before him, almost lifeless. when just a few days before they walked around the gardens, the king trying to impress his captain with the vast theories of the universe while his captain just smiled and turned the tables on him. his captain had stopped them, looked at the king then turned his attention to the night sky and started to quote a russian poem:

”Среди миров, в мерцании светил  
Одной Звезды я повторяю имя…  
Не потому, чтоб я его любил,  
А потому, что я томлюсь с другими. 

И если мне сомненье тяжело,  
Я у него одного ищу ответа,  
Не потому, что от него светло,  
А потому, что с ним не надо света.”

his pronunciation was incredible, like he was born with the language. he had laughed at the king when he saw the look on his face, mouth open just staring at his captain.

for the rest of the walk the king had tried to get his captain to tell him what it meant, but all he’d gotten in response was laughter. yeong-ah had enjoyed seeing his king not knowing something he did. he’d begged until they fell asleep later that night but his captain was as tight lipped as ever, just telling the king to use those brains of his to figure it out.

staring at him as he laid motionless on the bed, he realizes he still doesn’t know what it means, russian wasn’t one of the languages he excelled at. so here he still was, lost in so many more ways. it felt like he was drowning, and with each breath instead of calming down, the panic just clawed further and further up until he was going to choke and drown.

the king couldn’t tear his eyes away from the body before him, how could this be the strong man he’d known ever since they were children? it didn’t make any sense.

_it should’ve been you._ a voice in his head said. _it should be you there instead of him._ and the voice was right, he should be laying there. yeong-ah would know what to do in this situation, he wouldn’t stand frozen and just stare while the country needed a leader. he would act because he was good like that. he would do it because that’s what a leader does, he would know what orders to give, where to start, he would secure the palace and ease the people’s mind. he would do good by his king. but what even was his king? pathetic and useless it seemed.

if he lost him… well he would go to the underworld and bring him back, if there was a parallel world there had to be something like an underworld. damn the whole country and the title, what good was it if it cost him the man he loved? after all, this was his fault, he had to fix it. if he hadn’t become the king, his captain would be alright. he wouldn’t be—

”your majesty.” a voice made him tear his gaze away. it was lady noh, she looked a bit frayed but she was okay. her eyes traveled from the captain to the king, eyes full of sadness. ”your majesty.” she started again. ”look at yourself, you’ve been here ever since they put him in the room, there’s nothing you can do by—” and those where the words that broke whatever it was that was holding him up, as he fell to his knees, the sobs tearing from his chest so violently he couldn’t even breath. it was the truth though, he couldn’t do anything for the man he loved, he could only watch. he was _useless_.

he could feel, more than see, lady noh coming to his aid and that just made it worse. no one should have to come to his aid, he was the king, instead of helping his people, doing his job, he just kept falling apart. what would yeong-ah think of him? is this the man he fell in love with? he’d be embarrassed.

with that thought, he drew in a shaky breath and stood, startling lady noh. ”what do i need to do?” he turned to her.

she regarded him for a moment before sighing. ”the fires have been put out, the bodies taken care of." she paused before continuing, obviously being careful with the king in his current state. "what the people need is a speech from their king, to reassure them, to explain what happened—”

he nodded, he could do that. ”okay, i’ll get changed, get the cameras ready.” he made to turn but got stopped by a hand on his arm. lady noh was looking at him with sad eyes, she turned her gaze briefly to the captain laying in the hospital bed before returning those sad eyes to the king. ”your majesty, you don’t have to make a speech right away, you can take your time.” she said softly. and that wouldn’t do, would it? his people must be scared and worried over what happened.

”no, they’ve already been waiting long enough and the longer we wait the worse the unease will get. tell the cameras to be ready in 15.” and with that he left, each step heavier than the next. walking away from his captain broke his heart, but he had a duty, yeong-ah had saved him, he wouldn’t let it be for nothing. what if when he woke up the country would be in chaos, completely run-over because hiz king hadn’t been able to handle it, what would he say then?

getting dressed and prepped for the speech washed over him, before he knew it he heard the camera man counting down, 3, 2, 1.

he took a breath before he looked into the camera, he knew he could’ve looked better but his people deserved to see a true reflection of their king. ”hello everyone, this is your king lee gon speaking and i’m here to explain what happened to our kingdom the other day. as you may have known, 25 years ago my uncle lee rim killed the previous king, my father, and then disappeared. it was believed he was dead but that turned out not to be true. he hid and after all this time he decided to come back, and….” _breathe, just breathe it’ll be over soon._

he closed his eyes but images of before started playing infront of him, his uncle blazing in with a sword, the man at his side with a gun. the man that seemed to be his uncle’s right hand man shot two quick bullets hitting yeong-ah straight in the chest, but that didn’t stop his captain. the man fired a shot of his own, killing the man instantly. he could still hear him calling for the king to run, but how could he? the next thing he his uncle slashed yeong’s leg making him fall to the ground, and running the sword through his stomach, finally making the king unfreeze. he’d grabbed his own sword and using every single thing he’d ever been trained to beat his uncle. he was competing for time, for enough time so yeong-ah could make it out, enough time to get him help, enough time, just enough time. it was hard, he suffered his own cuts and bruises but nothing too life threatening, most could be be stitched up and it would be fine, but he finally managed to outsmart his uncle and put his sword right through his heart. he didn’t even wait for his heart to stop before he ran to yeong-ah, screaming and crying. the rest was a blur, getting him out of the palace and to the hospital, hours just waiting outside the operation room. just waiting, anxiously watching the doctors come and go, scared whenever a doctor came close, scared of what they’ll have to say. and by the time the surgery was over he hadn’t so much as blinked for over 20 hours, the doctor telling him yeong-ah was lucky, if he hadn’t worn a bulletproof west he would’ve been long gone. _lucky._ it angered him, nothing about the man’s state was lucky. he’d be lucky if he ever saw those eyes look back at him, filled with life and warmth.

”your majesty.” a soft voice sounded behind the camera and he was brought back to reality. right, he needed to explain what had happened.

he rubbed his eyes trying to find his place again. he was _the_ _king_ , goddamit. ”lee rim broke into the palace with his men and killed 15 of our guards, he injured several others, including the captain of the royal guard.” _breathe._ ”he also managed to set fire to a part of the palace, the fire has since been put down with no serious injuries and reconstruction will soon be set to start.” one breath in, one breath out. ”lee rim and his men were all taken out by our guards, we owe a special thanks to the captain, he—” god, he needed to end this now, there was no way he was going to reassure any of his people if he broke down every time he mentioned his captain. ”i know this has been a shocking time for all of you, as your king i apologize for ever letting this happen, i hope you can forgive me.” with that he stood and bowed down to his people. breathing deeply and trying to keep the tears at bay.

after the speech he was ushered somewhere else to deal with all the paperwork surrounding what had happened. lady noh followed him with her worried frown, telling the king multiple times he could take a rest, paperwork wasn’t what was important at the moment. but how could he sleep? no, he needed to do everything he could for his people, since who he truly wanted to help he could do nothing for.

the next days passed mostly the same, during the days the king did his paperwork, checked on the renovations, visited the people that had been injured, took care of the funerals of the fallen.

during the nights he sat by jo yeong, holding his hand, talking in soft tones, praying for the man to wake up, to smile at him with those soft eyes. he usually fell asleep for an hour if he was lucky, holding onto yeong’s hand.

the prime minister showed up once but he wasn’t in any mood to deal with her or politics at this time, it seemed like she noticed because she hadn’t been back since, instead talking on tv shows about how him and her are in close contact during this time. fucking bullshit, he couldn’t just be left alone, could he?

he sighed, it was a beautiful night, the workload during the day had been small, apparently he’d done all the paperwork there was, which he didn’t buy, he was 100% sure lady noh was hiding it from him so he wouldn’t overwork himself. what she didn’t realize was it was the only thing keeping him sane, only thing from thinking thoughts of jo yeong. of the fears that he would never wake up.

”come back to me, yeong-ah.” he said softly into the other man’s hand, giving it a soft kiss. ”open your eyes, please. _anything_.” he exhaled, sleep already pulling him into a fitful dream.

it wasn’t until a week later when the king woke up by something poking his shoulder. it felt like he had just closed his eyes five minutes ago and he was desperately clinging onto it. after all, it was very possibly that he had just fallen asleep five minutes ago.

”your majesty.” the voice said, accompanied with another poke. he huffed, couldn’t the person just let him sleep for a little while longer. let him enter the void of nothingness. ”your majesty, wake up.” the voice said again. no, he didn’t want to, he was the king he could sleep longer if he wanted to. if not, someone else could take the crown, he didn't care anymore, he was _tired_. ”your majesty” the voice said, a bit more firm.

for a while there was a silence, and the king was being pulled back into the dark void of his sleep, when, ”hyung _._ ” _what_? no one called him _that_ , well, there was _one_ person that called him that very scarcely, it couldn’t be? ” _hyung,_ wake up _._ ”

the kings eyes flew open as he shot up, and there they were, the warm eyes of his captain looking down at him. he was pretty sure his lungs stopped working. but there they were, the eyes he’d only seen in his dreams for the past few weeks. his captain’s face was in a slight worrying frown, which made no sense, _he_ had been the one badly hurt. ”yeong-ah.” he croaked out, and it earned him a small smile in return. ” _yeong-ah._ ” he said a little louder as he leaned forward. he took the man in with his eyes, the tubs were done, the bandages were still there, but when had the tubs gotten taken away? was this only some sick dream his mind had made up? was any of this even real? did he care if it wasn’t?

his thoughts must of played out on his face because his yeong-ah just smiled and said, ”i woke up a few hours ago, but you were impossible to wake up, a real pain for the medical staff trying to take the tubs out of my throat.”

”yeong-ah.” it seemed to be the only word he could say as he took in the man, he was _okay._ he squeezed the hand he’d held onto for the past nights, feeling a squeeze back. he was real. sure, the wounds had took their tool, but he was okay, alive and awake. ”yeong-ah.” he said more softly, as he felt tears filling his eyes.

”your majesty.” the captain said, voice wobbly as his own eyes started to fill with tears.

”yeong-ah.” he said as he grabbed his face carefully, looking it over before he softly brought his lips to his captain’s, letting the tears fall as he slowly kissed the man he loved, the man that was alright.

they stayed there for a while, trading soft kisses while whispering the others’ name into each others mouths, the king clinging to whatever part he could, solidifying that the man before him was real, that he was awake and well.

the king was the first to break the kiss, letting his eyes wander from his captain’s face to the bangages on his chest and stomach. ”how are you feeling? are you okay? do i need to call someone for you?” he looked up at his love.

”no.” he shook his head, giving his king a look full of emotions that broke his heart. ”i’m fine.” he gave a small smile. ”after all, it takes more than this to break your unbreakable sword.” it made the king laugh, but it came out more wet, as tears started to pour down his face again. but this time his captain was there to collect all of them, caressing his thumbs under his eyes, making sure to catch each and every one. before bringing his king’s face closer so he could give a gentle kiss to each eye lid, each temple, his forehead, each cheek, the tip of his nose, the corners of his lips, before finally giving a soft kiss to his lips. ”i’m alright, it’s going to take some times for the wounds to heal but i’m okay. all i need is you, okay?” he whispered against the king’s lips and all the king could do was nod. his captain had a long way of rehabilitation before him, before the wounds healed, the bruised ribs, the wound in his stomach, the wound on his leg. he took in a shaky breath. it would be a long journey. ”i’ll be with you every step of the way, i hope you know that.” the king replied looking into the warm eyes of his captain.

”i know, i’m sorry for worrying you.”

”it doesn’t matter anymore, you’re here. just…” he took a breath. ”just please promise you won’t do that again.”

that made his captain lean back with a frown. ”you don’t want me to protect you? i can’t promise you that. it’s my job and more than anything, how can i just let something happen to the man i love?” he said, affronted. 

the way yeong said that, like it was obvious and like the king’s request made no sense at all brought back the anger and heartbreak he had felt ever since he’d saw his love get stabbed and shot at. ”and what about me then? i’m just going to have to be okay with you getting hurt? possibly dying?! because of _me_?” he took a deep breath to calm down so he wouldn’t yell, but it was pretty hard. his heart ached, he loved this man, why couldn’t he understand that seeing him like this made everything else irrelevant. ”i can’t go through that again yeong-ah. i can’t just watch, not being able to do anything, not being able to know if you’ll live or die, if i’ll ever get to see you, hold you, laugh with you. what am i suppose to do if i lose you? can’t you understand how that would make me feel?” he saw his captain getting annoyed, but he didn’t care, if he had to, he’d even make a law, keep guards for him, anything.

”i understand, but you’re _the king._ i can’t let anything happen to you, and i’ll be _fine_. i survived this and unless you have someone else from a parallel world coming to kill you i won’t be put in harms way like this again. besides, it’s not the first time i’ve put myself in the line of fire for you and it won’t be the last and you need to accept that, _your majesty._ ” his captain was obviously upset, mad at the king for not understanding how he felt.

”well, i’m tired of seeing more scars littering the body of the man i love. and all because of _me_. don’t you understand how that makes me feel? knowing that i’m responsible for all the pain you have to go through? even now you’re months away from being in the same shape as before—”

”but don’t you understand how i’ll feel? if i ever let something happen to the man _i love_? if because of this i won’t protect you? don’t you understand how that would make me feel? and your fault? how is this ever _your_ fault? it’s the people coming after you that are at fault, _you are never at fault._ ” he sighed. ”don’t you understand?”

”i do, but i… i just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

”neither do i. we can’t help these circumstances surrounding us, but we can accept that neither of us are at fault for things like these happening. i have never, and will never blame you if something happened to me. even now, i’m happy you’re okay.”

”but i’m not though. all this time waiting for you to wake, wondering if you even would. _yeong-ah_ , it… it killed me not knowing if i’ll ever see you again.”

his captain cupped his face with his hand, slowly stroking his thumb against his cheek. ”i’m sorry, but i’m here now, and i’m _fine_. let’s just focus on that, alright? it won’t do us any good dwelling on the past. this is our fate, it might not be perfect, but, i wouldn’t have it any other way, your majesty.”

”hyung, call me hyung please, drop the formalities yeong-ah. at least for a moment, please?” the king sighed, bringing his face down to the crook of his captain’s neck, breathing him in slowly, being careful not to put too much weight on him, mindful of his injuries.

”okay, _hyung_.” he brought a hand up to stroke his king’s hair, closing his eyes just enjoying the moment of having the man he loved in his arms again. taking it everything that happened. he’d have to ask lady noh how the king had handled everything during the time he'd been in a coma. but, slowly they would be okay again, he knew that. one day at a time they would slowly heal. he kissed the side of the king’s face just breathing. they would be okay again.

a few months after everything had settled, they were once again walking in the palace gardens. the broken parts of the palace had been rebuilt, they looked just the same as before, if you hadn’t been there that night, seeing the fire, you wouldn’t even realize something had happen.

it was a beautiful night, the night before jo yeong was returning to full duty, they were quiet as they walked through the garden, both lost in thought.

”did you ever figure it out?” the captain asked after a while to try and break the silence and mostly get the king out of his head. he was still worried about his captain, it had gotten better over the course of the months, but he still caught the king looking at his wounds in bed when he thought the other was asleep, with a look full of guilt and hate.

”figure what out?” the king pulled them to a stop, looking adorably confused, like he couldn’t fathom what it was his captain meant.

”the russian poem, did you ever figure out what it meant?”

”no, i had totally forgotten it.” he confessed softly, smiling because he realized what his captain was trying to do, loving him even more, making his heart burst. his captain truly was the best part of him.

”do you wanna know or should i leave it for you to figure out?” he said teasingly.

”no, yeong-ah, i’ve begged and waited enough, please just tell me.” he realized he was whining a little, as a king he should be embarrassed, but he just wanted to hear the man he loved recite poetry again. after all, he was only human.

his captain nodded and with a soft smile he started to speak:

”among the worlds, in the glittering of luminaries, i keep repeating the name of one star only…. not because i feel love for him, but because i languish with others. and when i am overpowered by doubt, from him alone i seek an answer, not because he gives light, but because with him no light is needed.”

and at that moment, the king realized that he might be a star to his captain, but his captain was the whole wide sun, shining the brightest of them all, giving warmth like no other being could. he was simply, _everything_.

with that thought, he pulled his captain close with the hand he held and kissed him softly. ”i love you.” he breathed between the kisses.

he was never letting this man go.

**Author's Note:**

> you made it to the end babes!  
> hope you liked it, all feedback is welcome!
> 
> thank you to willruadh for fixing the russian in the poem!
> 
> if anyone is wondering the original poem is Innokenty Annensky's Среди миров (Among Worlds)


End file.
